Loading…
18
I bumped my dark theme's gray up 6 points and my 2am error messages stopped screaming at me
I build a little budget app and my dark theme used pure black behind pure white text for about a year. Then a buddy tested it on the train at night and told me the error banners felt like a flashlight to the face. So I tried #121212 for the background and #E6E6E6 for body text, and I also dropped the error red from a bright #FF3B30 down to something closer to #D6453F. My contrast checker still passed at 12.1 to 1, which surprised me because I thought softening the colors would push me under the line. The banners still read clearly, but my eyes stop burning after the second one. What background and text pair are you all running for long reading screens?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
quinn_foster10h ago
Did you read that study about text weight mattering more than contrast on dark screens? I saw something about how super thin fonts at full white look like they glow and bleed into the black, so people crank brightness up and make it worse. Your 6 point bump plus the softer red lines up with that. I run #1A1A1A with #D4D4D4 for long reads and it feels way easier at night than pure black and white ever did. The contrast checker number is only half the story since the checker doesn't know it's 2am and your eyes are tired.
9